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Bill Knight
(Albert Stanley) Bill was one of three children born to Stan and Selma Knight. Born on the 24th June 1917 he grew up in the mid-north town of Nuriootpa where his father was a butcher. The three children, Bill, Jack and sister Molly spent their childhood in the Clare district where they attended Clare Primary and High Schools. Bill was amongst the group who graduated in 1931 with a 100% pass rate for their Qualifying Certificate, an achievement for which Clare Primary School was justifiably proud and for which Bill also received a prize. Additionally, Bill was awarded a Woodwork Certificate, earning in just one year what was normally a two-year process.
At Clare High, Bill was also an active participant in Public Speaking and Debating as well as literature, winning the prestigious Otto Wien-Smith prize. His leadership was evident in his selection as a Prefect with the Headmaster commenting at the Annual Speech Day in 1940 that “The tone and reputation of a high school depends largely on its prefects and House Captains. We are fortunate to have here as efficient, zealous and earnest a body of boy and girl prefects as I have seen in any High School; by their devotion to their school they have assisted me in innumerable ways. I look to the students who will be here next year to do the work of prefecture and captaincy with equal excellence.” Of the seven students from the school who sat for their Leaving Exam that year, Bill successfully passed five subjects.
However, it was in a sporting capacity which Bill excelled. He and his brother Jack played football for North Clare, regularly featuring in the best players and goal scorers. In a final against Riverton, the local paper made the observation that Bill’s ‘go-through tactics did not suit Umpire Raven’; perhaps an observation of Bill’s fearless playing style.
With schooling completed, Bill took on a variety of work including as a Snagger for the paddle steamers on the River Murray and helping construct the Barrage at Goolwa.
He enlisted in Adelaide on the 2nd July 1940, aged 23, becoming Private SX7608. On the completion of his training he marched, with a full backpack, from Woodside in the Adelaide Hills to the luxury liner ‘Stratheden’ at Port Adelaide. The ship had been modified as a Troop carrier, now devoid of the ‘luxury’ of its original role. Bill chose to sleep on the floor rather than in a hammock which he found to be uncomfortable. Just three months after enlisting he arrived at Dimuau in Palestine via the Suez Canal and was thence assigned to the 2/48th Battalion, bound for Tobruk in Libya.
Bill recounted that “There was never enough food – Bully Beef and Biscuits. Every soldier was given only one bottle of water a day, about a litre, and that had to be used for teeth cleaning, washing and drinking. I and the other men did not have a shower for 7 months and had the occasional dip in the ocean.” He told a story about a tank that was ‘knocked over’ in front of them and amongst the wreckage they found 2 bottles of rum which they made good use of until it was confiscated by the Officers!
After the Siege of Tobruk, Bill and the 2/48th were tasked to escort 1,000 Prisoners of War from Tobruk to Alexandrina. Soon after that he went on leave in Cairo where he met up with his brother Jack (SX1287) who had left Australia in the First Contingent after enlisting in 1939. Bill was ‘claimed’ by Jack and moved from the 2/48th Battalion for the brothers to serve together in North Africa. (Jack later became a Sergeant.) Bill obviously missed being with his mates from the 2/48th as they had been through so much together but also wanted to be near his brother.
The brothers were interviewed by the local Northern Argus newspaper when on leave in Clare in 1942. The extensive report read; “Several of the returned Clare Diggers, who spent what seemed a lifetime of 8 heroic months at the gallant siege of Tobruk; also fighting with mechanised cavalry in Libya, can tell graphic and poignant stories of life at the front. Sometimes the heat in the shade beneath the shadow of armoured car and trucks reached higher than 135 degrees !!
'Am I -glad to be Home?' 'Well! I'll say!' was the almost universal expression of every Digger who has recently returned to Clare. After days of anxiety they at long last saw the shores of their beloved Australia emerge upon the far horizon; it was not long before the white crested surf along the coast scintillated in the sunshine. Some few almost wept for joy — most had a lump in the throat — 'but we all cheered like hell,' said one digger. 'We vowed we would nip in the bud the plans of the little yellow perils from the land of Nipon' When interviewed at the Clare Swimming Pool one day since their return, Sergeant Jack Knight and Private Will Knight, both emphasised how glad they were to be with their home folk and sister once again. Said Jack: 'As I stand here after diving in this fine pool, it is hard to realise that it is 27 months since I stood on this spot. The sights, sounds, smells and glamors of war have almost passed in review order; almost like the dream of the Crusaders’ of olden times.
Private Ben Hoare, watching the two Knight boys swimming powerfully side by side, said with calculating eyes: 'It is 17 months since I was here, and after the delights, exasperations and discomforts of the Suez Canal zone we went to Syria. We thought it would be easy going. The people were alright, but the Vichy troops suddenly got stubborn and then hell was let loose. It was in this campaign that Lieut. Bill Hope was killed in action.' 'The mountains and climate of Syria are lovely,' said Ben, 'but it was sad to think that Vichy French troops had to fight us. Even after they had been conquered, numbers of our motor cycle despatch riders on the roads were killed by them when they were run off the side of the roads by Vichy motor lorries.' When Ben was told he was wearing the color patches of the second most famous Anzac Regiment, of either the 1st. or 2nd. A.I.F., he grinned with that rare digger humor known the world over. Private Will Knight spent the whole of the 8 months the Australians were besieged in Tobruk. 'We were bombed every day' he said. 'Flies, scorpions, spiders and body vermin also tormented us without mercy, but we stuck it out, relieving the monotony with fighter patrols in the blasted desert sands. Our existence was not without humor,' he said. 'For frequently we laughed and joked until the tears, came into our eyes when the Lord Haw Haw Rats of Tobruk session broadcast from Berlin, came on the air for our benefit every day.'
'He was a great tonic and really saved our mental faculties through the desperate days of the siege that took place within and without the inner and outer perimeters of Tobruk; the latter over 28 miles in extent.' Sgt Ron Freer was five months in Tobruk and wore the color patches of one of the great regiments that scaled the Heights of Gallipoli. He said he was glad to be back, but was saddened by the knowledge that many small mounds and wooden crosses had to be left behind them in the desert areas of Libya, Cyrenaica and around Tobruk. Seated chatting around a table in a Clare Cafe, partaking of iced drink, Sgt Jack and Private Will Knight grew reminiscent about their homecoming and their travels in Eastern theatres of war. Said Jack: 'In the interests of perfect physical fitness Clare people can do no better than to train up the growing boys, girls and young men in the art of swimming, and it is really a fine sight to see how well all the young folk have improved since I was here when war started.' Jack was the acknowledged Champion swimmer of the Clare district when he left to go abroad and says most emphatically that many a time, he and his brother both felt quietly confident of saving their own and perhaps other people's lives, had they been torpedoed on the ocean routes. Jack, continuing, said: 'On one long leave in Egypt, Will, and I saw the giant Pyramids of Egypt. Then we went to a place called. SIWA, the third largest oasis in the world where there exist the far-famed hot water mineral springs and swimming pools. These swimming pools are magnificent to swim in and we revelled in their pungent, aromatic waters, after weary months spent in the sweating, dust-laden deserts.'
'It was in these pools,' said Bill and Jack almost in unison, 'That the lovely Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra, was once made love to by the early Roman General, Mark Antony, away back in the times when the Pharaoh's ruled over vast dynasties.' 'While we were at Tobruk,' Will Knight said; 'I forgot to tell you we used to swim often in the lovely blue waters of the Mediterranean in Tobruk Harbor. We used to swim like the fish in and around the fresh wreck of the bombed crack Italian liner, San Georgia, and many other Italian ships were sunk all along the water front.' Other places these men fought in were Mersa Matruh, Sollum and Sidi Barini. Other centres of interest were a ride around the palace of the present King and Queen of Egypt — King Farouk and Queen Farida. (She, by the way, is the first Queen of Egypt to reign since the days of Cleopatra.) They visited Alexandria and had a swim at Stanley Bay, the marvellous seaside pleasure resort; they saw the wonderful blue-tiled swimming pool and sporting club known as the Gezira Sporting Club, in Cairo; they went on a trip down the Blue Nile to the Rhodesian Gardens; also had swimming practices in the Suez Canal and on the way home had an entertaining outing at a magnificent swimming pool at Colombo, the capital of Ceylon, where a native Boy Scout who could speak several languages and native dialects, was not even allowed to swim with the white men of Australia. 'All told, we are lucky to get back,' they both said, 'but in conclusion,' said Jack Knight, 'I must tell you, and through you, the people of Clare and districts, and parents, that we had a great cobber in the late Les. Hicks, of Armagh, who was killed on service. In happier days we were all together as Clare boy scouts roaming the hills and valleys of Clare.” 'He, along with Sgt. Gordon Dack and myself, had a wireless station and outfit for spotting aeroplanes at one place in Palestine, and we did much good work there.' 'Even though the war is tough in the Near East,' Jack ended, 'they still have horse racing at Alexandria. We saw some fine turf clubs, with races for thoroughbreds and races for Arab steeds. The latter races are ridden by Arab Shieks in flowing robes, and they are wonderful horsemen.' Asked a question by the reporter, they both said 'General Sir Thomas Blarney was well-liked by practically every Digger. In fact, he was recognised as a sound leader and tactician and was affectionately designated Old Tom by all the troops.'”
Lance Sargent Albert Stanley Knight (Bill) was discharged on the 13th of November, 1945 just after his brother Jack on the 1st September, the same year. He then worked in the Fire Brigade in Port Pirie where he immediately returned to playing football. Ironically, he successfully played against his ‘old’ Clare team in May 1946 with the local papers commenting on the effectiveness of Pirie’s handpassing. Bill was mentioned as showing ‘good form’ and was named in the best players.
Pirie also had another attraction. It was here that Bill met Nurse Mabs Carter, a gold medallist in her nursing finals. The two married on the 13th November 1948 in the Highbury Street Methodist Church. Jack, fittingly, was Bill’s groomsman, after all the two had experienced together. Bill and Mabs then made their home in Darwin. The couple had one son, Roger and lived in their home at North Glenelg for 40 years while Bill worked for the Shell Company until his retirement. He served on the committee of the RSL North Glenelg sub-branch for three consecutive years, from 1958 – 1960.
Naturally sport continued to be a part of Bill’s life, including golf where he won the State Vet’s Golf Championship. Eventually the couple moved to Victor Harbor; the McCracken Village where just two weeks shy of his 100th birthday Bill died on June 5th 2017. Mabs sorely missed him until they were again reunited with her passing in December of 2019.
Tribute organised by Bill’s niece, Alison Kingston and researched by Kaye Lee Daughter of Bryan Holmes SX8133 of the 2/48th Battalion